Typical BC lampholders have a rear that can be unscrewed without a tool - I thought that was a PAT test fail. They also have cordgrips that are questi onable PATwise. They also usually have no maximum wattage marking. So is a portable light using one a PAT fail due to these points?
If you mean an inspection lamp type of thing which is using a pendant lampholder, yes I would fail that.
If you mean a table lamp type of thing, they aren't usually used in workplaces - an exception would be hotels and bars for decorative effect and most of those are going over to low-energy lamps and they tend to have different fittings.
Which reminds me of a story I've told before, regarding 500 MW alternators.
At Eggborough you climb into the spaces normally occupied by the vertical cooling water coils, and that isn't too bad. You then worm your way between bulkheads to get where you need to be. The hand lamp I had been given was just a mains fitting with reflector, so there I was, making my way around the stator end-windings and cooling water tubes, when there was a fizz and the light went out. There I was, in intimate contact with lots of earthed metal, not sure if I was about to be fried. Luckily, the problem was intermittent, and I lived to tell the tale (literally, obviously).
I've got a couple here that are pretty ancient. The lamp unit is a custom made moulding (with a rocker switch) inside which may be a fairly standard bulbholder. But not one you can access without dismantling, other than to change the bulb.
With some (all?) any made in recent decades, you at least have to make a bit of an effort. So as to prevent people taking the blown lamp out in the dark and then accidentally getting a shock when their finger strays into the lampholder while trying to put the new one in, the pins aren't electrified unless they are pressed down.
- I thought that was a PAT test fail. They also have cordgrips that are qu estionable PATwise. They also usually have no maximum wattage marking. So i s a portable light using one a PAT fail due to these points?
It would never be allowed in a new design today, but over 100 years with no known deaths or serious injuries make it difficult to justify any change.
It's impossible to make a good enough direct contact with a finger to pass enough current. You would need to be holding a larger metal object, and even then, it would be damn near impossible to maintain contact for more than a fraction of a second.
This is not true for ES, where there are a number of deaths (mainly in the US I believe) due to gripping the base of a lamp to unscrew it, and making a good contact with the metal screw on the lamp base, where the lampholder has been wired with the screw live and the tip neutral, and the resulting muscle contraction presumably maintins contact.
Years ago a mate was re-wiring his own house and fitted the loop-in-rose, pendant and only when fitting the lamp ... and it came on, did he get the shock. Luckily it wasn't an electrical one and a nice lesson about making sure the power is off before doing such things.
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